Town Centre - Councillors

To LBWF Councillors

WALTHAMSTOW TOWN CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT

1.       Please get the plans for the Town Centre made accessible to the public. Planning App 171355 on the planning web site will not download as the files are too large. Previous large plans have been given their own dedicated web site and the files split up.

The officers have had the plans since April but there was no mention of them in the latest WFN and hard copies of all the documents should be available in the Central Library. As it is a complex plan officers should be holding presentation sessions to show what is proposed. Why is the council deliberately keeping the public in the dark about this huge redevelopment?

2.       The scale and massing is totally inappropriate for the Town Centre and the whole of the Mall site should have been cleared to get the right spacing between the tower blocks instead of squeezing them on to the edge by Selbourne Road.

3.       Where is the space for emergency vehicles?

4.       If a fire broke out in one block it could easily spread to another block as they are so close. Do the blocks have two staircases and sprinkler systems and will the cladding be fire proof? No doubt Kensington and Chelsea Council said Grenfell Tower complied with all regulations. Do you want a repeat of that disaster in Walthamstow?  There is no need to redevelop the already successful shopping centre so why take the risk?

5.       Has the London Fire Brigade examined the plans properly to ensure they are safe? Have you checked this has been properly carried out?

6.       How can the site be redeveloped with 4 huge tower blocks one being 29 storeys – twice the height of anything around, while keeping the Mall operating? Will shoppers’ lives be at risk from the building works which will be very close? How will the developer ensure the streets of Walthamstow are not clogged up while the heavy lorries deliver materials and the work force come into the centre? – the bus station already struggles with the traffic congestion.

7.       Over 500 dwellings are proposed which will be at least 1,500 more people in the Town Centre and on public transport which is already bursting at the seams.  A further 500 dwellings have been agreed to in the St James Street area before the Buxton Road site is developed. How will the existing users manage with the extra crowds?

8.       The green space, vitally important for a good environment, will be decimated and will be in greater demand. Any chance of expanding the bus station will have to be abandoned as there will be not be space for it.

This is one of the worst schemes I have seen, is totally unnecessary and will destroy Walthamstow as we know it. It will make residents lives a misery while it is constructed and will then pour masses more people on to our already congested streets and public transport. This scheme must be abandoned.

Adrian